


Meliai

by Elysandra



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M, MeliaiMTDI, Pheromones, SanctuaryBingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-01
Updated: 2011-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 22:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elysandra/pseuds/Elysandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nikola Tesla had never been one for rules - or secrets he was not privy to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meliai

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sanctuary Bingo prompt 'The Garden' over at LJ. Thanks to MatildaSwan for betaing this one :)

“What do you want?”

Nikola grinned when Bigfoot opened the door at his fourth knock. He looked very annoyed.

“The faithful man-servant, always the first hurdle upon entering Helen’s Sanctuary, aren’t you?”

Bigfoot grunted, clearly waiting for an answer to his question. Nikola sighed.

“And never one for small talk, apparently. I’ve come to see Helen. Now let me in.”

“Dr. Magnus is not available,” was his only answer.

He still wasn’t any closer to getting inside, it seemed.

“Come now, has she ever turned me away? The motto is ‘Sanctuary for all’, not ‘Sanctuary for all expect Nikola Tesla’, isn’t it?” Nikola grinned.

“It should be,” came the grunted reply. Yet the man moved aside to allow him grudging entrance.

Nikola strode in without hesitation. He wasn’t picky.

“Right,” he said, turning around as if taking in the whole Sanctuary with a sweeping look. “Now, where is Helen and why isn’t she available?”

He heard two grunts as the door was closed behind him.

“Other matters need her attention. You will wait in your room.”

The big guy pointed up the flight of stairs to where the vampire had spent his time during his last visits. Nikola raised a delicate eyebrow.

“Oh, so she still keeps my room prepared for me! I knew she missed me.”

Her hairy servant gave him a reproving look.

“She always does,” he grunted, his tone making his puzzlement obvious.

“Good to know,” Nikola commented happily as he crossed the room in long sure strides.

“You are not allowed to enter the garden!” the big guy called after him.

The only acknowledgement he got was the lazy wave of a hand.

~~~

It was only after he had entered his room, to be honest, that Nikola suddenly asked himself _why_ he was not allowed into the garden. Not that he felt a particular desire to go there, but he had never before been confronted with any such prohibition in a Sanctuary. And what was occupying Helen?

His curiosity quickly spiking, Nikola strode over to the broad window adorning one side of his room and looked down. The garden lay peaceful and silent below, offering no apparent reason as to why it should be off-limit. There had to be something happening somewhere else.

Thinking quickly, Nikola left his room and went down the hall towards the laboratories. Assuring himself with a glance up and down the empty hallway that nobody was watching, he entered the room he had spent so many hours in. Empty as well. It appeared as if there weren’t many people around at the moment. Curious.

Moving a table aside to look out of the window properly, Nikola pulled the wooden frame open and looked down. Nothing. And neither did he find anything to the left, nor to the right. Curiouser and curiouser!

He was just about to pull his head back, when he noticed the high green hedge that started at the wall a few windows down to his right and seemed to circle around a group of trees, blocking them from his view. _That_ had not been there during his previous visits, had it?

Pulling back, Nikola shut the window and even took the time to move everything back to their original places. No need alerting anybody to the fact that he had left his room, even if nobody seemed to be around. This was too fascinating to take unnecessary risks.

After once again checking that the hallway was still deserted, Nikola strolled down the corridor and entered the last room on the left as if he had any right to be there. Just to be sure.

Looking around he realized he had entered a storage room of antiquated scientific instruments. The sight brought back old memories and he smiled as he remembered how he had spent hours together with Helen, patiently (or at least he liked to think so) waiting in front of some of them until they had gotten the results they had hoped for – or not.

Shaking his head Nikola interrupted his reminiscing and once more focused on the window. Moving yet another table, he could see already that the hedge did in fact not start at the wall but grew alongside it. The fact that it was about 6 feet deep prevented him from gaining any insight into the happenings below. But he could hear high-pitched voices floating up to him. Something was definitely going on down there.

Nikola climbed up onto the window sill, straightening outside with a secure grip on the frame. Below he could see different small beings move between and in the trees, though most of the space was still hidden from his view by the trees’ green crowns. He could see Helen Magnus, though, and the view was all he needed to make his next decision.

Nikola crouched down to collect his strength, smiling at the way Helen lay stretched out on a soft looking cushion, a dark green flowing skirt lying around her, as if molten color had been poured over her legs. The same material seemed to caress the skin around her upper body, floating around her arms from her wrists up to the side of her shoulders, from her waist up to the top of her breasts, never touching her cleavage above that. Something was in her hair, too, but Nikola could not discern what that was without getting closer.

He jumped.

~~~

When a shadow fell over her, Helen looked up from where a small woman sat on the grass in front of her to find a pair of shiny black shoes standing next to them. Slowly moving her gaze up the dark grey trousers, over a vest of the same color, and a dark red shirt underneath it, she finally found herself eye to eye with Nikola. It took her somewhat foggy mind a few seconds to realize whom she was facing, but a slow burning desire filled her almost instantly at the first sight of his appreciative expression.

“Nikola?” she asked, uncomprehending, her voice darker than usual, surprising even herself.

“The one and only,” her friend drawled, eyes dark and deep as he studied her appearance.

Helen took a deep breath to clear her mind and regretted it instantly when his scent filled her senses, spicy and familiar, more alluring than she could remember. Trying to get her bearings back Helen looked down at her companion, noting a fascinated look on the small woman’s face.

“Why did you let him through, Tean?” she asked, her voice soft and bewildered, lacking any accusation it might normally have had.

The small creature looked around her, where several of them were dancing merrily in loose circles. Helen followed her look, coming to rest on Nikola once more, who studied his surroundings with mild interest.

“Did not let him,” Tean finally answered; her voice high and clear, her lips forming the words with a tingling ring. “He from high. And not human, no danger,” she pointed out.

Helen studied her face, still bewildered, feeling the inexplicable desire to laugh. She liked these dances; it was always a light and relaxed time, filled with fun. But her current state of mind also made it somewhat hard to concentrate, to consider the seriousness of the situation. She looked up again.

“From high? Have you finally figured out the bat part, Nikola?” she asked, a teasing laugh following her words. His rising eyebrow tickled her laugh to break out fully, but the confusion in his eyes and a light amusement growing behind that reminded her that there were questions unanswered, still.

“Sit down,” she sighed, though it sounded husky rather than annoyed. “You’re giving me a crick in the neck.”

Yeah, she had not planned on saying _that_.

“Tean,” she turned to her friend  with a pleading look, “could you maybe give us some space?”

It was not the rude dismissal others might have taken it for and the woman nodded, understanding bright in her eyes.

“Yes.”

Straightening gracefully, she rose from the soft grass, her soft brown skin glowing in the sun light, changing colors and hue with every movement. Helen’s eyes followed her, transfixed on the beauty of it, when she went to join her companions in their dance.

Turning around when she felt a light touch against the back of her hand, Helen met Nikola’s warm eyes. His fingertips caressed her hand with a feather light touch while he watched her intently. A tingling sensation spread up her arm and Helen blushed.

“They’re beautiful,” she explained, distracting him, slightly defensive.

“I like your outfit,” he countered somewhat out of the blue, throwing her off-balance and deepening her blush. She was not normally that susceptive to his charm, Helen told herself. She didn’t normally allow herself to be.

“You are just as beautiful,” Nikola finished his compliment with a smile when he saw her blush.

“What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here, you know?”

She really had to distract herself, that much was obvious. And while her questions might not be as elegantly phrased as usual, getting back to the point under discussion promised to yield the desired result.

Nikola grinned, settling in more comfortably on one end of the big red velvet cushion, right next to her knees.

“I know.”

He could not take his eyes off her and he made no attempt to hide it. Was he feeling the repercussions of being with them that strongly? Helen was bewildered. He definitely should not, being a half-vampire.

“So?” she asked for an explanation somewhat impatiently. She really wasn’t her most eloquent right then.

“Oh well, you know me and secrets, Helen. Or rules, even worse! I swear, I was only trying to get a look at what you were hiding down here. But then I saw you and… well, how could I possibly deny myself a closer look when you look this hot?”

He leered at her and Helen had to stop herself from shifting self-consciously. To her irritation, she could not hide the deepening of her blush, though. When was the last time she had blushed as much? Or at all? Helen sighed.

“You’re feeling the effects of pheromones, Nikola, you’re not yourself. And neither am I. Not completely.”

“Pheromones?”

Now the vampire’s expression turned intrigued.

“What exactly is going on here, Helen?”

She looked around, collecting her thoughts. Concentrate, she berated herself silently.

“We have a group of so called forest-nymph females living in these trees. I saved them during a trip about 12 years ago and offered them a place to stay. Their species is said to be descendants from the ancient _Meliai_ , but it’s hard to say how much of that is simply a myth. Fact is they have a very strong, symbiotic connection to the nature around…”

Helen trailed off with a small moan. Nikola’s fingers had settled on one of her exposed ankles, stroking her lightly, absently. It burned like fire on her skin and she knew she should stop him, but she could not quite persuade herself to do it. She attempted to finish her explanation instead.

“Their males are nomadic loners, frequenting several different territories throughout the year, but their females live in packs, building their homes hidden in trees and staying there for as long as possible. Twelve years now, in this case.”

She looked over at the group of forest-nymphs dancing around them, their happy laughter ringing in the air.

“The females are quite happy and unconcerned in general, especially these as they know they are absolutely safe here. The males are much, much shier and you will hardly ever see them. They also do not come near any female pack during the year, which is the reason for these ‘festivities’.”

She lifted her hand to indicate a wide circle around them. Nikola did not seem to pay it any notice, paying close attention to her leg now. His fingers were drawing lazy swirls, moving further and further up under her skirt, getting bolder by the minute.

“Nikola!” Helen protested when she realized where his hand was wandering, but he just smirked at her and she could not seem to find the will to stop him.

“Pheromones, remember?” she admonished.

“Yes, of course,” Nikola murmured, smiling at her. “Please continue. I love listening to your explanations.”

“Really, Nikola,” she began, only to find she did not know what she had wanted to say.

Explanation, she reminded herself, observing that Tean’s departure had not brought much improvement as far as her ability to focus her thoughts was concerned. But after hours in their company, a few meters probably could not make much difference anymore.

“Once a year, during the summer, they create a safe place,” she indicated towards the huge hedge, “using their connection to the plants around them; a safe place to mate. They come out for a day of dancing, during which they exude a pheromone that is intended to lure the males to them, even against their natural shyness.”

She caught Nikola’s hand that was cupping her knee by then.

“It also has a slight affect on the females, relaxing them to ease the mating, but the impact on males is much more potent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t just lure _their_ males,” she added pointedly.

Nikola smiled, turning his hand in her grip and catching hers.

“Human males are also ‘lured’?” he asked, clearly amused.

“Obviously,” Helen gave back. “This unfortunate coincidence has filled folktales for many centuries. Men seduced by fairies? You find that regularly. A lot of it is overactive fantasy, as usual, but this is the basic truth behind it.” She took a quick, shuddering breath. “As you can attest to by first-hand ex…experience…now.”

Words became harder to form as Nikola began to concentrate on her hand in earnest, caressing and stroking; making Helen aware of various sensitive spots she had not previously been aware of. Nikola looked up with a smirk when he heard her last mumbled words.

“Me, Helen?”

She nodded slowly, watching with fascination as Nikola lifted her fingers to his lips, using his tongue to make her forget what exactly she had been attempting to explain.

“I’m not exactly human, Helen. The only thing ‘luring’ me at any time is your compelling beauty.”

Shivers ran down her back when sharp teeth grazed the soft spot between her index and middle finger and she spent too many moments to come up with an appropriate answer. Nikola obviously noticed as well, judging by his more than smug expression and the way he not so subtly inched even further towards her.

“Nikola…” Helen finally attempted in lieu of the evasive answer, only to be cut off by his hand on her cheek, his breath washing over her skin when he leaned in close.

She could not help but notice her heart rate increase drastically. Why was this affecting her so strongly? It certainly wasn’t supposed to; normally she didn’t feel more than slightly drunk. And even then nothing could happen since she made sure no males approached, just to be on the safe side.

Apparently, the “safe side” was out of the question with Nikola. And the way her breathing stocked when his teeth nipped at her ear lobe right now – well, ‘safe’ to say her rational mind was out of the equation as well.

A fact Nikola had picked up on, too.

“You, on the other hand, my dear Helen,” he murmured in a husky voice she felt sure she had never heard him use before. And thank god, because it made her melt right then and there, “you seem to be… _excited_ …”

Helen could not help the small groan that escaped her throat as she felt his hand slip under her skirt again.

“Am I right to assume you’ve finally realized that there is no valid reason to fight your attraction for me any longer?”

Nikola’s expression was smug, his tone was smug, and damn him, even the way his hands claimed possession of her body was smug. Helen took a shaky breath, straightening where she sat, attempting to collect her thoughts – and her will.

“You, Nikola, _are_ the very reason. The very valid reason,” she stated decidedly.

Nikola did not appear fazed.

“You say that, but I don’t think you really mean it.”

Maybe it had been the husky tone in her voice that had clued him in, or maybe he had noticed the hand sneaking into his hair – she did not know. And, Helen realized as their tongues battled for dominance, she did not give a damn.

 

 **|** | **The End** | **|**


End file.
